AEK Athens and Dinamo Kiev face off in Olympiako Stadio Spyros Louis, in a match for this phase of the UEFA Europa League (16th Finals). This will be the first direct confrontation between these two teams, as they have never faced each other before.

AEK Athens:

The home team reaches this stage of the UEFA Europa League (16th Finals) after having finished the group stage in the 2nd position of Group D, with 8 points won. The team comes to this match after a home victory over Asteras Tripolis by (1-0). AEK Athens won 1 and tied 3 of their last 4 home matches for the UEFA Europa League.

For this competition, he does not lose 8 games. In the last 20 home matches for all competitions there is 1 period that stands out: they have conceded 5 of their 12 goals between minutes (46′-60 ‘).

The AEK makes in this game the third of a series of four consecutive exhibitions before his fans, which must be satisfied with the performance of the club, since it is unbeaten since twenty-two games and its last defeat suffered in October 2017. Now , the local team comes from four consecutive victories, three of them for the Greek Championship, in which it occupies the vice-leadership. The great triumph of the team in this season has been the defense, which is the second best of the national championship, and also showed consistency in the Europa League, as it qualified in the second position of Group D, with only five goals suffered. For this match, coach Jiménez must organize the team in 3-4-1-2 or in 4-3-3, with highlight for Christodoulopoulos in the offensive sector.

Dinamo Kiev:

The visiting team got access to this phase of the UEFA Europa League (16th Finals) after the 1st place conquered in Group B, with a total of 13 points. In the last match they played, for the Friendlies, they lost with Sarpsborg 08 by (1-0). In the last 4 UEFA Europa League away matches Dynamo Kyiv has won 2, tied 1 and lost 1 of the last matches. They have not been very strong defensively, since they have suffered goals in 6 of the last 8 matches, but their offense has scored frequently, since they have scored goals in 7 of the last 8 matches for this competition.

Dynamo Kyiv enters the field for its eighth game in 2018, but the first official, since all matches played so far were friendly, in which he won two, lost three and tied two. Despite the recent questionable performance in the preparation matches, the team has been making a good campaign this season, as it occupies the vice-leadership of the Ukrainian Championship and in the Europa League managed to qualify in the leadership of Group B, with five points of advantage over the classified according to, the Partizan Belgrade. The great highlight of the team has been its defense, which is the best in the national championship, although in the continental tournament it has not managed to maintain the same rhythm. It is very likely that the coach will organize the team in 4-2-3-1, having to keep the Brazilian Junior Moraes as reference in the attack.